Izumi Shikibu

Some choice tanka by Izumi Shikibu, the 11^th century Japanese poet, who out of her scandalous life wrote some superbly suggestive and racy poems. From The Ink Dark Moon:  Love Poems by Ono no Komachi and Izumi Shikibu (trans. Jane Hirshfield and Mariko Aratani).  

A man used to come during the summer, but stopped

You no longer

come to visit me

in your splendid summer clothes—

how transparently thin

your heart as well!

*

A monk came to visit and left his fan; I returned it to him with this poem:

I think

you may have briefly forgotten

this fan,

but everyone must know

how it came to be dropped!  

*

To a man who wrote requesting an answer

I think I will not go out again

on your drifting boat

that floats

in any direction

without ever setting a course.

*

I used up this body

longing

for one who does not come.

A deep valley, now,

what once was my heart.

*

If the one I’ve waited for

came now, what should I do?

This morning’s garden filled with snow

is far too lovely

for footsteps to mar.